Rockets Receive Intriguing Ranking From ESPN Ahead of 2026-2027 Season

The Houston Rockets are on the verge of beginning the 2026 NBA season and are hoping they can take a step forward from where they were in 2025 to potentially emerge as a top-end contender in the Western Conference.

On that note, a collection of NBA experts at ESPN, including Jamal Collier, Michael C. Wright, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, Vincent Goodwill, Zach Kram, Brian Windhorst, Ben Golliver, Ramona Shelburne, Kris Rhim, Baxter Holmes, and Anthony Slater, came together as a panel and did a 2026-2027 NBA season preview with rankings, predictions, and odds.

When it comes to how the panel ranked the Rockets, it was quite an intriguing and it will be interesting to see if they are right as the season progresses.

As far as the ranking goes, the ESPN panel ranked the Rockets as the No. 10 team in the NBA heading into the 2026 season which is a solid ranking. Looking at the Western Conference teams ranked ahead of them that list contains the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 1, the San Antonio Spurs at No. 2, the Minnesota Timberwolves at No. 5, and the Denver Nuggets at No. 8.

With these rankings in mind, it appears that the panel does believe the Rockets can be among the top teams in the West are they are only behind four other Western Conference contenders.

Diving deeper into the rankings for each team the ESPN panel discussed a variety of things, but the two aspects I want to hone in on for the Rockets is what was discussed as Houston's strength as well as the biggest weakness.

Starting with the strength, Wright talked about the size in the Houston front court, which has enabled this team to lead the NBA in offensive rebounding over the last two years. When it comes to size, Wright noted that this team has multiple players who possess great size, like Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Steven Adams.

With this strength, the Rockets could have an advantage against opposing teams on the interior and if they can lean into it, this strength could help Houston to have a strong regular season and potentially a deep playoff run.

Now shifting over to the biggest weakness, Wright talked about the fact that it was Houston's ranking near the bottom of the league when it came to turnovers, as they averaged 15.4 turnovers per game. As Wright mentioned, a key reason for that was that veteran guard Fred VanVleet missed all of last season, so that should be improved this season, but the Rockets do have to go out and prove they are better in that area.

As the Rockets begin the 2026 campaign, if they can take much better care of the ball with VanVleet back in the lineup and increase their number of possessions, Houston may have an opportunity to take a major step forward on the offensive end.

When taking a big picture look at the Rockets when it comes to their biggest strength and their biggest weakness, it does appear that Houston has the ability to sustain the rebounding with their size and for their weakness with turnovers, they should be able to improve significantly which could bode well for this team in 2027.

Heading into the 2027 season, if the Rockets can stay healthy, lean on their size, and take care of the ball consistently, this team has the talent to compete with anyone, so it will be interesting to see if the ESPN panel was correct with the Rockets being about the 10th best team in the NBA or if Houston's season goes differently than some expect and possibly puts the Rockets in the elite tier of NBA contenders.

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